In his celebrated 1791 book Travels—a naturalist's account of the "Old Southwest" (Georgia, Florida, and what became Mississippi and Alabama) as well as the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee—William Bartram recorded the wild world he saw around him but, rather incredibly, omitted any reference to the ongoing events of the American Revolution. Georgia historian Edward Cashin places Bartram in the context of his times and explains his conspicuous avoidance of people, places, and events embroiled in revolutionary fervor, suggesting that while Bartram documented the natural world for plant collector John Fothergill, he wrote Travels as a means of shaping the new country he anticipated. Cashin further illuminates the convictions that motivated Bartram: that if Americans lived in communion with nature, heeded the moral law, and treated the people of the interior with respect, then America would be blessed with greatness.

"Edward Cashin's research and analysis of Bartram is extensive and complete, giving his book the weight of a major authority on the man and his travels.... By pairing Bartram with the political and military events which the naturalist chose to disregard, Cashin offers us a valuable lesson in the art of historiography."—American Historical Review